Punchline Read Free

theories positing the existence of alternate universes, Constance had been the subject of a profile in Just Us. Belle recalled thinking that the scientist was hiding pretty blue eyes and good bone structure, but it infuriated her that Darryl Horak had noticed.
    Worse, he was treating this brilliant woman like a sex object, posing her on the beach in a skimpy bathing suit for the titillation of his readers.
    “What are we going to do about it?” Janie asked. “If Constance wants to take her clothes off for the masses…well, she’s a grown woman. Grown in all the right places, I might add.”
    Belle didn’t fully agree. Despite her brilliance, Constance was a naive young woman.
    Darryl must have snowed her with his idea, once expressed in an interview Belle had read, that women were celebrating their sexuality in a healthy way by displaying their bodies for men to ogle. But, of course, only perfectly proportioned young women with great skin were allowed to celebrate their sexuality in About Town.
    “He wants women in swimsuits?” Belle said. “Let’s give him women in swimsuits!”

2
    T HE SHOOT WAS going perfectly.
    They were tackling three Flaunt It centerfolds at once to take advantage of the still-warm September weather. Everything had dovetailed. It was a hot, sunny day and the beach lay beautifully empty. Jim Rickard, Darryl’s best photographer and good buddy, had been available, and they’d lined up as stunning a trio of beauties as a man could wish for.
    Technically speaking, the editor of About Town didn’t have to be present at the shoot. Setting up the scenes was his art director’s job, and Elva Ching was good at it.
    But Darryl wouldn’t miss the chance to be here. He wanted to insure that everything about his magazine was perfect.
    After he’d graduated from college, he’d aimed for a career in show business, with the vague idea of getting into production. It hadn’t taken long working as a gofer in a TV studio to discover he preferred to become his own boss as soon as possible.
    He also enjoyed squiring lovely women, and helping their careers, and seeing their eyes light up with gratitude. So ten years ago, as a twenty-three-year-old, Darryl had rounded up the backing from friends and family, started the magazine out of his bachelor apartment and landed in heaven.
    Somewhere during the past decade, though, the pretty women had begun blurring into one another. To his sur-prise, Darryl found he cared more about the editorial content and the visual quality of the magazine than about meeting yet another to-die-for model.
    Then, a few years back, he’d started to get serious about one girlfriend. Celia, an attorney, was smart, independent and a knockout.
    Everything had gone well until the two of them had started talking marriage. Then she’d changed.
    Although Celia had maintained her own apartment, she’d begun spending most of her time at Darryl’s place. She restocked his refrigerator, gave away most of his liquor and began kicking him out of bed early on weekends. He had to exercise every single day, she said, or he risked dying young.
    When he’d tried to argue, Celia had produced a survey from the newspaper. It said married men depended on their wives to keep them healthy, physically and emotionally.
    At that point, Darryl had no longer felt healthy in either of those departments. He’d felt trapped and stifled.
    Finally, Celia herself had realized their relationship was deteriorating, and had left to try her luck elsewhere. Before departing, though, she’d warned Darryl that he needed someone to look after him.
    The statement had made him angry. Men weren’t overgrown kids who needed women to make them whole.
    That was when Darryl’s About Town philosophy had come into focus. As far as he was concerned, men could manage their own nutrition and exercise. They could become wine connoisseurs without losing control of their drinking. They could develop rich personal relationships with